Share This Story!

Google I/O: Apple on their minds

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Google went public in the summer of 2004, few to none on Wall Street viewed the Internet search powerhouse as a threat to hardware maker Apple -- or vice versa. Most saw either Yahoo or

SAN FRANCISCO — When Google went public in the summer of 2004, few to none on Wall Street viewed the Internet search powerhouse as a threat to hardware maker Apple — or vice versa.

Most saw either Yahoo or Microsoft as Google's chief rival.

But that was before the desktop Internet began turning into the mobile Web as consumers — especially younger ones — shift to smartphones and tablets for their digital content.

On Wednesday, when Google kicks off its annual I/O conference here, Apple will very much be on the collective mind of its developer community, as the two platforms vie for mobile software dominance.

John Shinal, technology columnist for USA TODAY.(Photo: USA TODAY)

Last month, Google said its Gmail program was the first Android app to pass 1 billion downloads on Google Play, its online store. Earlier this month, Google said its map app had also hit that milestone.

Yet while Android apps have been gaining momentum, especially overseas, Apple devices are still the favorites of high-end American mobile consumers, especially those who watch a lot of Web video.

Apple devices play almost two-thirds of that video traffic now, but which operating system will host the majority of mobile content — and users — in another five or 10 years: Google's Android or Apple's iOS?

Making a solid prediction on that score is hard to do, given the fickle nature of the mobile market, especially as a wide array of new Internet-capable devices further expand the app economy.

Everything, from home appliances to cars to human bodies to drones, is going online as wireless technology proliferates and grows more sophisticated.

All will be controlled more with Web software, creating large new opportunities for app writers and further roiling the market.

Independent mobile developers face a tug of war with each new app and feature they code.

Do they write a program first for Apple's App Store or for Google Play, the online home of Android apps?

The best answer is to do both, but that can be a weighty decision for small development teams with limited resources.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has this year used some impressive stats as carrots to urge on the iOS developer community.

In January, he said App Store users spent $10 billion in 2013, and that Apple had paid out more than $15 billion to developers in aggregate.

In June, Cook said the store now has 1.2 million apps and has served up a whopping 75 billion app downloads.

On Wednesday, look for similar types of updated stats from Google, as it battles Apple, now its primary rival in its most important growth market.

John Shinal has covered tech and financial markets for more than 15 years at Bloomberg, BusinessWeek,The San Francisco Chronicle, Dow Jones MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal Digital Network and others. Follow him on Twitter: @johnshinal.